Most people would argue that downloading music illegally is not good. However, some artists do believe that downloading music is actually helpful to artists and that it should not be illegal.

In the link below, Janis Ian, who was a famous singer around 40 years ago, argues that downloads help her. She says that people download her music for free, but then become more interested in that music. This might inspire them to come to her site and buy music there or to pay to go to one of her concerts. She says that less-known artists like herself actually benefit from downloads.

In this way, downloading that is illegal now could be seen as a good thing for obscure artists who simply want to get more people to listen to their music. This might help them to sell more music or more concert tickets.